


The Two Of Them

by onereyofstarlight



Series: Fluffember Prompts 2019 [6]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: F/M, Family, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22351180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onereyofstarlight/pseuds/onereyofstarlight
Summary: Lady Penelope is pining and it's possible that everybody knows it.
Relationships: Penelope Creighton-Ward/Gordon Tracy
Series: Fluffember Prompts 2019 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1606219
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	The Two Of Them

They had been agreed from the start. Their feelings couldn’t get in the way of their working relationship – International Rescue and the lives they saved had to come first. It was during a hushed conversation in FAB1 that they had decided to keep things casual and strictly between the two of them. Easy, without the risk of hurting each other, no need for anyone else to know. Only, Gordon had surprised her. They weren’t supposed to fall for each other.

And now Lady Penelope had to suffer through a formal dinner and dance of her own making. She was the one who had insisted on a black-tie dress code and the one who had kicked up a fuss when Scott had initially denied her invitation on the grounds that International Rescue couldn’t just shut down for twelve hours. It was meant to be a nice time for society to gather, for the enigmatic Tracy brothers’ appearance to distract the elite from her intelligence gathering on select members in attendance.

And then Gordon, hopelessly cheerful and brilliant _Gordon_ , had arrived in _that_ tuxedo. Gordon so rarely wore tailored clothes on Tracy Island that she had forgotten how a well-fitting outfit could emphasise one’s lines and create an angled jaw that was thrown back _just so_ as he laughed, drawing everyone’s attention towards him. He hadn’t even had the decency to wear a black cummerbund, but instead a golden silk was wrapped around his waist.

She couldn’t bring herself to look at him directly, certain that everyone in the room would feel the electricity passing between them.

“Nice party, Lady Penelope.”

The unexpected voice from behind her made her jump, and she scowled at the broad man leaning casually against the wall. Virgil should never have been able to sneak up on her, and admittedly if his brother hadn’t been doing such a fine job of distracting her, he never would have.

“Thank you, Virgil. Have you tried the canapés – they are truly divine.”

“I have, thank you very much,” said Virgil with a grin. He looked smug, as though he knew something she didn’t.

“Yes, well,” she said. No need to rise to his bait after all.

“Gordon’s looking good, all spruced up,” said Virgil slyly. “It’s not often we can get him out of his beach wear or wetsuits.”

Lady Penelope sniffed. “It’s a pity none of you brushed up his etiquette before bringing him here. A _gold_ cummerbund at a black-tie event, I’ll never live it down.”

If anything, Virgil looked even more delighted by her comments.

“If you’ll excuse me,” she said loftily. “I have guests to whom I must attend.”

“Later, Penelope,” he called after her.

She hurried off to find something to critique or to hide herself away. It would be merely efficient if she managed to do both simultaneously.

She made it to the kitchens without incident and exhaled slowly, head in her hands now she was able to shut out the party.

“Lady Penelope?”

She looked up sharply and groaned inwardly as she caught sight of Alan.

“Are you okay?” He certainly sounded like the earnest teenager she knew and loved.

“What are you doing back here?” she scolded, hoping to distract him from his concern and side-step the issue of her losing control around Gordon’s baby brother of all people.

“John and I have a bet going,” he confessed. “Whoever can steal the most pigs-in-blankets gets to skip the next five parties.”

“I didn’t think you hated my parties quite so much, Alan.”

“Well,” said Alan, wrinkling his nose. “They’re just kind of boring, aren’t they?”

Lady Penelope had nothing to say to that. Even she could admit that her dinners are not to a fourteen-year-old’s tastes.

She might have garbled her excuses and made her escape if Gordon’s laugh hadn’t floated down into the kitchen at that very moment, as though taunting her.

“Gordon likes your parties,” said Alan, watching her closely.

“Well, that’s gratifying,” said Lady Penelope. “I could hardly host an event and have people walk away having not enjoyed themselves.”

“He hates getting all dressed up, hates having his motion restricted,” said Alan, slowly. “But he was so excited for this evening.”

Lady Penelope hardly dared to breathe. The facts were harder to brush off when they had been laid out in front of her by a teenager with too much wisdom in his eyes.

Alan grinned at her, bright and sudden. “Makes you wonder what he was so excited for,” he said before cheerfully swiping the aforementioned pigs-in-blankets.

“Seeya!”

“Good evening, Alan,” Lady Penelope sighed.

She waited a few more minutes, trying to collect herself, but Gordon kept _laughing_ and suddenly it wasn’t enough to hear him through the walls.

She spun on her heel and pushed open the doors, intent on returning to the Lesser Ballroom where she had last seen Gordon. Her heart let out a high-pitched keening when she realised he was no longer there. Scott sidled up next to her, oblivious to her disappointment.

“Glad we came, Lady Penelope?” he asked.

 _No!_ she wanted to cry. _This wasn’t meant to be so hard._

“I’m as thrilled as always, Scott,” she said. “You boys certainly know how to put on an act.”

“Comes with the territory,” said Scott. “And besides, we learned from the best.”

Lady Penelope angled her head slightly, acknowledging the compliment.

“Are you glad you came, Scott?” she asked.

Scott grinned. “Yeah, I was just being a bit of a hardass. Gordon was pissed.”

“Oh?” she asked weakly. If yet another of Gordon’s brothers wants to discuss him with her, she’s not so sure she can keep her emotions to herself anymore.

“Yeah,” said Scott, airily. “Yeah, he yelled at me for at least twenty minutes straight. And then he got John to run the numbers on our last stretch of significant downtime so he could get _Virgil_ to sign off on medically enforced downtime.” Scott looked down at her with a smile. “Between the two of you, I never stood a chance.”

Lady Penelope sucked in a breath. ‘The two of you’, the simple phrase connecting Gordon and herself as though it were _nothing_. As though it didn’t mean everything.

Scott leaned down to whisper conspiratorially in her ear.

“It’s not often Gordon fights for something, he’s a pretty laid-back guy,” he said. “But do you know what I’ve noticed?”

“No?” squeaked Lady Penelope.

“Whenever he fights, it’s always for you.”

And then Scott Tracy – world class _arse_ – is walking away, hands in his pockets. He’s even _whistling_.

She’s so caught up in the indignity of the moment, pink splotches on her cheeks and mouth open, she fails to spot John walking over to her until it’s too late.

“Pig-in-a-blanket?” he asks mildly.

“Oh, no you don’t, John Tracy,” she exclaims, whirling around to face him. “You don’t get to come over here and offer me a pig-in-a-blanket as though I can’t see exactly what you’re trying to do.”

“And what’s that?” he asks. He pulled the tiny sausage off the toothpick and chewed carefully.

“You’re going to lose your bet, you know” she said.

“You’re sidestepping the question,” he said, but he didn’t press further.

Penny didn’t say anything, she’d never been able to hide anything from John. John had a way of piercing her every shield and plucking her vulnerabilities from her core and examining them under the light of day. He didn’t say anything either, but looped her arm through his and walked her to a quiet alcove cast in shadow.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

John smiled. “You already know,” he said.

And Lady Penelope found that she did.

Gordon.

He was leaning against the wall, and he pulled her close as soon as she was in reach.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey yourself,” she said softly. She exhaled carefully, resting her forehead on his chest.

“Hey, you’re okay,” said Gordon, his hands rising to her shoulders. He held her as she sucked in shuddering breaths, trying to regain a semblance of control.

When she stilled, he gently pressed a kiss against her temple.

“Want to tell me what that was about?” he asked, pulling away and searching her face.

“This party, it was too much,” she whispered. “I thought I could handle it, pretending like always, but then your brothers, and your laugh, and that _stupid_ cummerbund –”

“Hey, I look sexy in this cummerbund,” complained Gordon.

“It’s a black-tie event, Gordon, that means _black_.”

She smiled though, which she knew had been his main objective. He always managed to make her smile.

“What if we stopped,” she said tentatively. Gordon stiffened, but didn’t pull away.

“Stopped what, exactly?”

“All this… hiding.”

Gordon did pull away at this, eyes wide.

“What about your evil enemies waiting to tear us apart?” The levity in his voice masked the uncertain look in his eyes.

“And what of yours?” she whispered. “What if a hurricane takes you from me? What if I’m kidnapped and buried alive on foreign soil? Just once, I’d like to explore a ‘what if’ that makes us happy.”

“And that is?”

“What if it turns out to be the best adventure of our lives?”

Gordon leaned down and kissed her. She could feel the twitch of his lips smiling against her and she could help but laugh as he picked her up and whirled her around.

“Feeling brave?” he asked her, as he gently placed her back on her feet.

Penelope thought of what Scott had said, _the two of them_.

Gordon bowed and offered her his hand.

She took it.

The world never stood a chance.

**Author's Note:**

> Crosspost from Tumblr. Original posted on 11/11/2019. Fills Day 20 prompt: Kiss
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


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